Welsh Journals

always with the abbots of the kingdom's three principal monasteries, Llantwit Major, Llancarfan, and Llandough. Sir J. E. Lloyd, the Welsh Stenton, speaks of the "Age of Isolation" and Chancellor James, in a similar vein, refers to "the period of Isolation." But within the limitations of this survey it is argued that the seventh century organisation of Christianity in Powys and Mercia shows con- siderable consistency which can only be explained by dialogue and comm- unication. There was a similarity between the Celtic monastery and the English minster. The churchmen of both nations were aristocrats; the roles of their religious houses and their ecclesiastical organisation were very alike. This is not to deny that differences existed, but what was true of Powys may prove to be true of the rest of Wales in this period, urging us to rethink the history of early Christianity in Wales, no longer seeing it in isolation from that of the rest of Britain in particular and from that of western Europe in general. NOTES 44Bede. Historia Ecclesiastica, III. 25. ^For an opposite view see E. John, Orbis Britanniae, Leicester, 1966, pp. 16, 17. 46Bede, Historia Ecclesiastica, IV 5 Canon I. 47It had been recognised at the Synod of Hertford that as Christianity grew, so more bishops would be required for its supervision. (Bede, op. cit. IV 5, Canon IX). Theodore implemented this provision as opportunities presented themselves. 48Danon XIII, A. W. Haddan and W. Stubbs, Councils and Ecclesiastical Docu- ments, III, p. 367. 49F. E. Warren. The liturgy and Ritual of the Celtic Church, Oxford, 1881, p. 147 Haddan and Stubbs, op. cit., III, p. 368. 59Ludwig Bieler, Ireland, Harbinger of the Middle Ages, London, 1963, p. 108. 51Bede, op. cit., V 7 V 19 III 18 V XIX. 52In Cornwall there is Davidstow, Michaelstow, Padstow, and Morwenstow. There are Bridstows in Hereford, Cornwall, and Devon, and Stow and Wistamstow in Shropshire. There is a Wonastow in Monmouth. 53N. K. Chadwick, The Celtic background of early Anglo-Saxon England,' Celt and Saxon, Cambridge, 1964, p. 343 See also, C. L. Wrenn, Saxons and Colts in South-West Britain,' Transactions of the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion, 1959. MBakewell and Egham in Derbyshire, and Sandbach in Cheshire. where place- name evidence records their existence at Christleton, Rowton (formerly Little Christleton) and Littleton (formerly Little Christleton). 55He has Mercian dedications at Shustoke, Warwcs., Holme Lacey, Herefords. and at Donnington and Clungford in Shropshire. He appears in several Gloucester- shire field names. 56E. John, Orbis Britanniae, pp. 28-34. 57A. W. Wade-Evans, Welsh Christian Origins, p. 18; The Emergence of England and Wales, Cambridge, 2nd. ed., 1959, p. 123, n. 2. 68C. Fox, Offa's Dyke, London, 1955, pp. 217, 218. 59Chs. 70, 71. 60H. P. R Finberg, The early charters of the West Midlands, 50, p 42. 61F. E. Harmer, Select English Historical Documents, Cambridge, 1914, 1, p. 39. 62H. P. R. Finberg, The early charters of the West Midlands, 76, p. 48. 63Ibtd. 64F. M. Stenton in Offa's Dyke, p. xviii. 65F. M. Stenton, Anglo-Saxon, England, p. 214. 66R. Bromwich, ed., Trioedd Ynys Prydein; The Welsh Triads, Cardiff, 1961, 49, p. 128 The Book of Talwsin, ed. J. G. Evans, Llanbedrog, 1910, pp. 36, 68. 67V. E. Nash-Williams, The Early Christian Monuments of Wales, p. 202. 68G. R. J. Jones, The Tribal System in Wales: A reassessment in the light of settlement studies,' Welsh History Review, I, 1960, p. 128.